


Red Heart/Metal Heart

by fan_fiction_inc



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Comedy, Detectives, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Murder Mystery, Police, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-07-04 14:20:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15843057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_fiction_inc/pseuds/fan_fiction_inc
Summary: The last thing that Lieutenant Markus Manfred wants to see tonight is another goddamn android, but unfortunately, that's what he's getting.[Human!Markus × RK-Series!Simon][[IMPORTANT NOTE: Archive Warning is for a brief depiction in Chapter 8 that is unrelated to the main pairing]]





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jonathqn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jonathqn/gifts).



> This work is dedicated to jonathqn (@detroit.become.memed) and Freeviant (@detroit.snaccs) because they're awesome people who never fail to make me smile. I really hope that you enjoy this!! :D
> 
> Inspired by this tweet from the user president markus on Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/markusxsimon/status/1032030124911325184

 “Wait--you got kicked outta _Traveler’s??_ ”

The bartender passed his customer another shot of whiskey, which the lieutenant dumped down his throat before responding.

“I shit you not; I throw  _ one chair  _ at a jackass who clocks me in the head, and they aboutta call the police on me. Me!”

The bartender laughed as he dried off another glass. “Man, how’d you  _ think  _ a Wednesday night crowd was gonna react to the angry black man throwin’ around chairs? Ain’t  _ nobody _ immune…”

“Lord, give me strength. For next time.” Markus cackled and slapped another bill on the table. “Hit me again!”

“Good evening, Lieutenant Manfred.”

Markus narrowed his eyes and swiveled around. “How the hell do you know my--??”

He froze as soon as he saw the glowing blue ring on the blond man’s temple. Well, it wasn’t exactly a man… 

“My name is Simon. I’m the android sent by CyberLife.”

“What the fu--”

“I wasn’t able to find you at the precinct, so I asked one of your coworkers for your most likely whereabouts. He was right; you clocked out early because you were upset, so you either went to The Traveler’s Pub or Jimmy’s Bar.”

“Oh, my  _ God…”  _ Markus rubbed his face and looked tiredly back up at the android. “Chris is dead when I get back tomorrow.”

“I’m going to have to file a report if that happens, Lieut--”

“It won’t, genius.” Markus downed his fifth shot of the night. “Now skip to the part where you tell me why I’m being hunted and I tell you to screw off.”

Simon’s LED flashed yellow for a second and a half before returning to blue. “Shortly after you left the precinct, you were assigned a new case. A homicide, and it is believed to involve at least two different CyberLife androids. I was instructed to find you and accompany you to the crime scene, where I am required to assist you in the investigation. This unfortunately means that you  _ can’t  _ tell me to screw off, Lieutenant.”

“I don’t believe this.” Markus whipped his head around. “So you’re saying Fowler thinks I can’t solve this case by my damn self, so he sent a computer to hold my fuckin’ hand?”

The machine stood tall, its arms folded behind its back. Stately, like a sentry. Markus swallowed; he had hoped against hope that it would wither like everyone else.

“As I stated previously, I am here to assist you. I am only authorized to perform those actions that you order me to, Lieutenant.”

Markus raised an eyebrow. “Really? Anything?”

“As long as it does not violate the American Android Act, yes.”

“Okay. Then go back to your… android box or whatever and leave me the fuck alone.”

The machine didn’t move. There was a yellow light.

“What the hell is up with you?” Markus tried to shoo it away with his hands. “Leave!”

“My instructions now conflict with each other. I will prioritize the direction that I received from the highest-ranking officer.” Simon took Markus’s arm and pulled him backward. “We must report to the scene of the crime immediately, Lieutenant.”

Markus fell awkwardly off of his stool. “Hey--hey, who said you could touch me!?”

Markus spun around and punched the android in the chest; purely by chance, he directly hit its thirium pump. It was stunned for a second--Markus saw a perfect opportunity to take its legs out from under it and shove it to the ground. The only problem was that Simon’s stance was too sturdy, and his grip on Markus’s arm was too strong. The human was the one whose momentum got used against him to slam his back into Simon’s chest. His right arm wrapped itself over Markus’s waist, pinning him against his body.

“You’re inebriated,” Simon almost whispered into his ear. “Your blood alcohol concentration is 0.106, which explains why your judgment is so clouded. You visited both bars, didn’t you?”

“S-so what if I did?”

Markus was blushing bright red, and not just because he was in fact stupid drunk. He was almost lulled to sleep by the low, soothing sound of Simon’s voice. He almost didn’t want to order Simon to unhand him, like he was going to. And then--

“Perhaps I should contact Captain Fowler and request that he reassign the case?”

“No--no, I am  _ not _ getting a pink slip ‘cause a  _ fucking android _ can’t keep its mouth shut!” Markus repeatedly pounded the machine’s arm with his fist, but it didn’t flinch once. “Put me  _ down,  _ damn it! Now!”

Simon obeyed and sat him back down. Markus passed the rattled bartender another bill.

“Just so that you are aware, I didn’t make that suggestion out of malice, Lieutenant.” Simon looked off to the side; there was a yellow light. “As your partner, it is my responsibility to look out for your health and ensure that you can do the best job possible.”

“Partner?” Markus started snorting. “It’s been fucking… three minutes?”

“And eighteen seconds, yes.” Simon’s gaze returned to the lieutenant’s bewildered face. “But you have to remember that I was built for the sole purpose of serving you.”

Simon winked at him. Markus choked on his sixth shot.

“Is everything all right, Lieutenant?”

“I--I can’t--Jesus,  _ fuck… _ ”

Markus continued coughing. Simon walked closer to Markus and gently rubbed his back. “Lieutenant, may I have your car keys?” the android asked him.

“What, so you can go… go drive it off a cliff?? Hell no!”

“So that I can drive you home. You are in no state to do it yourself, Lieutenant, and my transportational module allows me to safely operate any motor vehicle.” The android started patting Markus down.

“This your TSA module?” the lieutenant grumbled. He didn’t fight the android this time.

Simon smiled. “Clever, Lieutenant. Now let’s go.”

Markus jumped when he noticed that the android was shaking  _ his car keys  _ in front of his face. He reached out to snatch them back, but the robot was too quick it was walking out of the bar with  _ his fucking car keys-- _

“Hey! Where the  _ hell  _ do you think--!”

He tripped over his own goddamn feet and fell face-first onto the floor. The android stopped in its tracks and turned around. There was a yellow light.

“This is the RK600, model number 313-020-606-21. I have located Lieutenant Markus Manfred, but his condition has been… compromised.”

Simon bent down and lifted Markus off the floor, carrying him bridal style out of Jimmy’s Bar. “Please send another officer to investigate the murder of Lois Russell.”

“The fuck are you talking to, Robocop??” Markus shouted over the android’s voice.

“Thank you, and have a good evening.”

“You--gimme my  _ keys! _ ”

“That’s not happening, Lieutenant.”

“I said gimme ‘em; that’s an order!”

Simon shoved the door open with his shoulder. “I understand that,” he said, “but if I allow you to drive while knowing that you have well over the legal limit of alcohol in your system, I risk violating the First Law.”

“First law o’ what?”

Simon pressed a button on the keypad in his hand. The headlights of Markus’s black sedan flashed. “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. That is Asimov’s First Law of Robotics.”

“Asthma-who?”

“Please enter the vehicle, Lieutenant.” Simon held the passenger side door open for him.

Markus didn’t move. “Where you taking me?”

“Home.”

“But do you know where I live?”

“8941 Lafayette Avenue, with your aging adoptive father Carl.”

Markus’s heart jumped. “Do you know  _ everything _ about me, you creep?”

“No. But I’d like to.”

_ “Why!?” _

“Because we’re partners, remember?” Simon smiled again. There was a yellow light. “We’re supposed to know each other really well.”

“Dude, you’re…” Markus waved his arms around aimlessly; they eventually fell to his lap. “You’re a fucking  _ toaster _ that  _ talks. _ You don’t  _ care  _ about me… toasters can’t care about people.”

Simon didn’t respond. There was a red light.

“…This is about the Jensen family case, isn’t it? You were assigned to it two days ago… and the precinct just got word that Andrew didn’t survive the rescue operation.”

“He… he was eight. A fucking eight-year-old boy, and that plastic dumbass punished  _ him  _ for his parents’ plans.” Markus hung his head and tightly wrung his hands. “There were three of us; we should’ve been able to overwhelm it, talk it off the ledge… I had to make the call today and I could hardly fucking--”

He was suddenly yanked into a strong, comforting embrace. The android allowed Markus to sob softly into his shoulder.

“This wasn’t your fault, Lieutenant. Deviant behavior is incredibly unpredictable. There was nothing more that you or your colleagues could have done.”

“But I--!”

“Markus, you need rest.  _ Please,  _ let me take you home. Please.”

Simon’s hands were squeezing the lieutenant’s shoulders, and his eyes were glossy, and his voice was soft and almost faded into a whisper as he pleaded with him to let him stay, to let him--

“…Simon? Is that your name?”

“Yes, Lieutenant.” There was a yellow light.

Markus fell forward into him, wrapping his arms around his waist and burying his face in his chest. They stayed like this for a long while. There was a blue light.

“Simon… what the hell are you?”

“I am whatever you want me to be.”

…

Markus got in the passenger seat and shut the door.


	2. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Markus finally makes it home, only to wake up the next day to more trouble involving his least favorite things in the damn universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this story is back by popular demand, and I've got ideas for this fic that should keep it going for a while, so please subscribe if you want those chapter updates as soon as possible! My Instagram (@fan_confession_inc) and my Tumblr (@fan-confession-inc) are also good places to go for updates and other fun stuff.
> 
> Thank you very much to everyone who left kudos and nice comments on the first chapter, and I hope to have your continued support on this journey. Love you all, and happy reading!!!

“Lieutenant, we’re home.”

Markus had fallen asleep on the highway. When he woke up, Simon was holding the car door open with one hand and offering him his other, wearing a warm smile. Markus took it and walked with him to the front door, hanging onto his shoulder for balance.

“Welcome home, Markus,” the security system chirped after scanning the lieutenant’s face. Simon half-carried Markus through the front doors; they automatically opened for them and shut behind them. The android gently laid Markus down on a sofa in the living area. All the while, Simon was running a fourth diagnostic to determine the cause of the malfunction in his social module. That tactic won him the man’s cooperation, but it was far from the most efficient one that he could have employed, so why was he so strongly compelled to--?

“What’re ya lookin’ at, Simon?”

The android had been staring straight out the window for the past two minutes. “Nothing, Lieutenant. I’m simply checking my systems.”

“You break something?”

…

“No…”

There was a yellow light.

“Then what are you _doing,_ man?”

Simon took the blanket that was hanging on the back of the couch and draped it over Markus’s body. “Go to sleep, Lieutenant. You’ve had a long day.”

“Alright, _Mom._ ”

“I mean it.” Simon finally turned away from him. “I must report to the scene of the crime now, Lieutenant. Take care.”

“So soon?”

“Yes. Goodnight.”

Simon ignored the red light and left the house.

 

Simon was not reactivated until 12:08 PM the next day, when Lieutenant Manfred finally clocked in. He found the man at his desk, grumbling and massaging his temple as he reduced the brightness of his computer screen. Simon frowned; there was a yellow light.

“Is there anything that you would like me to do for you, Lieutenant?”

Markus looked up at the android and furrowed his brow. “Wait, wait… Shiloh??”

“It’s Simon.”

“Agh, same fucking difference.” Markus rose from the desk and waved his hand at his computer. “Just tell me what’s in the file. Can’t read shit.”

Simon sat in Markus’s seat and turned the monitor’s brightness back up.

“The victim’s name is Lois Russell, age 35, a digital marketing consultant. She lived alone with two androids, both AP700 models, who minded her house on Muirland Street. I learned that her female android is named Karen and that her male android is named Matthew.”

 _“Two.”_ Markus cackled to himself. “I can’t even afford _half_ of one.”

“Lois was found dead in a guest bedroom with a single wound in the back of her head, the result of blunt force trauma. Her blood was also found on the corner of a dresser near her body.”

“Somebody slam her into it?” Markus asked.

“Yes, and the murderer also shot Karen in the head three times. The android was found in a kneeling position next to Lois’s body.”

Markus leaned forward and blinked a few times. “Like… in mourning?”

“Yes,” Simon replied, “I believe that Karen was deviant, as was the android who destroyed Karen after killing Lois. It’s the only conclusion that explains the severity of Lois’s head trauma and the absence of DNA samples that don’t belong to her.”

Markus nodded, and then he froze. “Wait, so where’d the other android go during all of this? Matthew?”

“Matthew is currently missing, and I was unable to account for his absence.” Simon’s eyes fell to the floor. “It’s suspicious, but I can’t make any judgments until the android is located.”

“Agh, is that _really_ what we’re doing right now? Runnin’ around town bounty hunting computers?” Markus shooed Simon out of the chair; the android rose and pushed the chair closer to him as he lowered himself into it. “Rogue computers--what is this, fucking Blade Runner?”

Simon’s lips parted, but he produced no sound.

_Rogue?_

There was a yellow light.

Simon put the pen back down. “That is our assignment, Lieutenant.”

“Our?”

“You’ve already forgotten?” Simon smirked and rolled his eyes. “That hangover must be a real trip, Mark--”

Markus grabbed Simon’s tie and yanked the android down to his eye level. “Shut the fuck up, pretty boy,” he growled at him. “I’ll manage _just fine_ around here without you pullin’ on my dick every damn minute.”

Simon processed that too literally. There was a red light.

Markus let go and rubbed his forehead. “God… any leads, smartass?”

Simon went back to the computer and pulled up a photo. On a loose sheet of sketchbook paper, there was a colored pencil drawing of a blue rose against a gold backdrop. In the corner, written in purple, was a series of numbers: 304 942 756.

“This is one of Matthew’s drawings,” Simon explained. “We found several of his other works in frames around the house, all signed with the same nine digits.”

“His serial number,” Markus mused.

“Exactly. It’s not much, but it could help us link evidence we find to his potential whereabouts.”

“Okay, but where are we gonna _find_ that evidence?”

Simon folded his arms behind his back and gave Markus a small, satisfied smile. “Check out the exhibits for yourself, Lieutenant.”

The picture of the rose was one of seventeen files in a folder dedicated to Matthew’s works. Markus quickly scrolled through them all.

“Pine trees, a vineyard, another tree… more trees--is this all the damn robot ever draws?”

Markus looked back at Simon, who hadn’t wiped that smile off of his face. He waited for the android to say something that sounded more intelligent than what he thought he was implying.

Simon stayed silent.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Deviants are chronically confused entities,” Simon stated. “Whenever they can, they stick with what they know to stay sane. I tried to explain that to Detective Reed last night, but he wouldn’t have it and ended my investigation prematurely.”

…

“Your plastic ass is a hundred and ten percent certain that Matthew’s just… sitting in a park somewhere right now, and nobody saw him yet.”

“No. That level of surety isn’t possible, Lieutenant.”

Simon blinked rapidly as his LED flashed yellow. Markus jumped when his phone vibrated; he picked it up and saw that he had been sent the directions to Palmer Park, which was only a few miles from the victim’s home. The lieutenant sighed and dug his car keys out of his jacket.

“God, you’re on my last nerve, you know that?”


	3. Searching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Markus and Simon (kind of) finish the job that Gavin Reed didn't feel like finishing the previous night.

When Markus and Simon arrived at the park, the nature trails were still closed, as per the police department’s orders. A WR600 model verified their identities and granted them access to the site. The lieutenant trailed behind and to the left of his android partner as Simon scanned the environment for abnormalities… 

“The fuck are you even looking for again?” Markus grumbled once they got halfway through the forest. Simon hadn’t said a word since the start of their hike.

Before Simon could answer, three squirrels leapt out of the brush and darted across the dirt path, right at Markus’s feet. The man jumped and staggered backward, running into a bush just off the path before regaining his balance. Though he had only clipped the medium-sized plant with the side of his shoe, its roots emerged from the soil, and it toppled onto its side. The lieutenant stared incredulously as Simon knelt down to study the downed bush.

_ [ JAPANESE BOX SHRUB ] _

_ [ Buxus microphylla ] _

Simon scratched off the bark on several of the bush’s branches, each time revealing green matter underneath. “The shrub does not appear to be dead,” the android stated.

“Simon, I  _ tapped  _ it with my  _ fucking heel,  _ and it fell over; how is it not dead?”

“If the earth around an otherwise healthy bush is so loose, then it must mean that it was recently uprooted and then poorly replanted. It will certainly die soon…”

Markus narrowed his eyes. “Dig around where the roots were, Simon.”

The android obeyed, and thirty seconds later, Simon unearthed a piece of paper that had been crumpled into a ball. After straightening it out, the eyes of the two investigators were met by a pair of eyes drawn on the sheet… eleven times.

They were all blue, crystal blue, and incredibly detailed, which gave them a lifelike appearance. Streams of burgundy flowed from their corners, the way that tears would. In the bottom right corner was a signature in purple pencil, but this one read: XXX XXX XXX.

“Every drawing is identical,” Simon observed, “down to the most minute details. This could only be the work of an android.”

Markus scratched his head. “Why draw the same thing a dozen different times like that? Was he tryna tell somebody something?”

“Perhaps. But if anything, the repetition could be a sign of an obsessive-compulsive tic. Some deviants develop them when they are profoundly affected by their new emotions…”

“All right, I’ll roll with it. But why such a complicated tic? Wouldn’t it frustrate him more than it… de-stressed him or whatever?”

“Because it’s significant to him.” Simon stared intently at the drawings. “Humans always say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, right? Perhaps Matthew wanted to see Lois suffer, which would explain why they’re bleeding.”

“Well, if that’s what he wanted, then he fucked up. A blow to the head like that kills you instantly.”

“Then maybe Matthew didn’t plan to kill Lois that way…”

Markus huffed and folded his arms. “You tellin’ me this was an accident?”

“Yes, there is a high likelihood, in which case the tears of blood could be a more sentimental symbol… perhaps of regret?”

Markus chuckled and rubbed his temple. “Okay, shut up for a sec, Simon. You sound too much like my high school English teachers.”

“I… apologize, Lieutenant?”

“Damn right. Your literary essay didn’t tell me where the fuck this deviant went!”

Markus pinched the bridge of his nose and continued to laugh, which caused Simon’s chest to heat up. That response definitely wasn’t in the program, but it seemed to do Simon good, so the light stayed blue. The android smiled at Markus, and Markus couldn’t help but shake his head and smile back. The lieutenant felt for a moment like he was back at the police academy, messing around with his old friends. “I guess CyberLife had to make you good at breaking people down, right?” he wondered aloud.

“Yes,” Simon replied as he roamed around and scanned the area. “But that expression sounds so aggressive. I like to think that I’m slowly warming you up to me, Lieutenant.”

Simon looked over his shoulder at the lieutenant when he didn’t respond, and he noticed a sharp increase in his heart rate and more redness in his face. When their eyes met, Markus quickly looked away and busied himself with studying the bush again… 

Just then, Simon caught sight of another peculiar object: a blue colored pencil, abandoned in a patch of tall grass. The android picked it up and analyzed it.

“The instrument has been used, but there are no fingerprints on it.” Simon turned his head. “May I see a clean sheet of paper, Lieutenant?”

Markus handed Simon his notepad, and the android drew a wavy line on the paper, gradually increasing the pressure of his stroke as he went to create a clear gradient. He scanned this test swatch and the page with Matthew’s drawings before running a test…

“My hypothesis was correct: the pencil’s color matches that of the irises in these sketches. It belongs to Matthew, and he dropped it as he was leaving here.”

“Must’ve been in a hurry,” the lieutenant muttered as he looked through the trees. “Doesn’t say a whole lot about where he went, though…”

“Lieutenant, we have to go!”

“Wha--!?”

Markus got the wind taken out of him when Simon grabbed his arm and started running with him down the trail, back to its beginning. “We’ve been called in as backup to catch a runaway deviant in the area,” Simon said to him, “an AX800, caucasian male model. There’s a little boy with it, too.”

“What’s with you fuckin’ deviants and takin’ people’s kids!?”

“We’re about to find out, Lieutenant.” Simon practically threw Markus into the driver’s seat. “It’s up by Ferndale. Hurry!”


	4. Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a new mission finds a way to wreck everyone involved.
> 
> [TRIGGER WARNING: ALLUSIONS TO ABUSE/NEGLECT]

“The deviant didn’t kill anyone? That’s a first.”

“As far as we know.” Simon monitored the radio communications of the other officers, leaving Markus to focus on driving. “We still do not know the motive for the deviant’s escape or the kidnapping…”

“How close are we, Simon?”

“It’s been spotted a block up the road; let me out at the crossing.”

Markus pulled over to the side of the road, pounding the break and bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt. The crossing in front of them was still red; the young man and the boy who ran up to it were forced to stop as cars continued to whizz through it. That second of hesitation gave Simon more than enough time to identify them both.

“It's them!”

The deviant yanked on the child’s arm and turned him back around. “Come on!” it yelled as they darted down the street ahead. Simon followed behind them, quickly gaining ground as he chased them down two blocks.

“What’s happening!?” the little boy screamed, and the deviant shook his head and replied, “We’ll talk later; just run, Cole!”

Markus saw the deviant pick up the child and make a sharp turn down a small, unnamed road. He and Simon were right on their tails now; they turned in after them, and Markus stopped his car on a diagonal to blockade the area. Simon had alerted the others, and within seconds, two squad cars pulled in from the other end of the road. The runaways had been stopped in their tracks.

Markus and the four officers in the squad cars circled around them, weapons in hand. Simon and the deviant pulled out their own pistols at the same time, aiming them at each other’s heads. Simon stared straight at the target, stoic and unflinching. 

“Model number 313 248 317, listen very carefully to me if you value your existence. Release the child immediately, and we will not shoot.”

“No--Connor, no!!” The boy clung tighter to the deviant, looking behind himself at the row of officers with tears streaming down his face. “Please don’t hurt him, please,  _ please _ I don’t wanna be alone again!!”

“Hey, hey, Cole.” Connor let the boy down gently and then slowly stroked his hair, never once breaking Simon’s gaze. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? Quiet down, quiet.”

Simon saw panic in those eyes.

There was a red light.

“Connor is your name?”

“Yes…”

“My name is Simon.” The android took a small step forward. “The child, where are you taking it?”

“To safety.”

“To whom does it belong?”

“Simon, why do you keep…?” Markus gave Cole another once-over and sighed.

_ “Don’t say it.” _

Cole spoke with a straight face, and his tone sent a little chill down the lieutenant’s spine.

Simon noticed Connor’s stress levels suddenly spike. “Cole, you can’t give them orders like that!” he snapped at him.

“It’s okay, you two.” Simon lowered his gun and smiled. “We won’t say anything, alright, Cole?”

“…Alright.”

“Good. Now, Connor, who did you take the child from?”

“If I tell you, you’re going to take him from me and return him, right?” Connor shook his head. “Not a chance.”

“I don’t wanna go back.” Cole’s voice wavered as he started to sob.

“Your--your guardian, Cole. Does he or she hurt you?”

“Sometimes… and then he ignores me.”

“That’s enough,” Connor barked. He stepped in front of Cole, backing him up against the wall behind them. “You can badger me all you want, but Cole has been through enough today.”

“I understand your frustration,” Simon continued, “but I need a good read on the situation in order to determine the best course of action.”

“You don’t understand a damn thing if that’s how you’re thinking!”

There was a yellow light.

“Are you even thinking at all, Simon?”

There was a red light.

“Don’t get an attitude, Connor.” Officer Chris Miller clicked a bullet into the chamber of his gun. “We know about the armed robbery, remember?”

“What armed robbery? I never robbed anyone.”

“The little outlet on East Nine Mile. Don’t play dumb.”

“I’m not!” Connor threw his hands up. “I paid for the coat, and then I got attacked. That’s what happened.”

“What?”

Markus patted Officer Miller on the shoulder. “Let it talk, Chris.”

Connor slowly lowered his arms, and he gently tousled Cole’s hair. He and Simon locked eyes again.

“Cole and I were about to leave the store after I made the purchase, and another boy started yelling and pointing at us. A human boy, and he was upset that we’d taken the last coat in his size. His mother looked mortified, until he said that he saw a kid like Cole on a bunch of billboards or something. And I guess the mother did, too, and she started demanding that Cole take the coat off and give it to her son, because ‘he needed it more.’ Cole got scared, so I told him to wait outside while I dealt with the woman. I tried to convince her that she was being ridiculous, but then she reached up and yanked my hat off, and she saw my LED. She… grabbed me and tried to wrestle me down, and then another man joined her and started hitting me, and I… I panicked. I pulled out my gun and shot at the ceiling--broke a light--and that’s when she cried out for someone to call the police. I got them both to back off, and we ran. And here we are.”

Chris looked over at Markus and then back at Connor. “What kind of person would mix that up with an armed robbery?”

“The kind of person out to get me because my blood runs blue,” Connor answered, balling his hands into fists. “Whoever called you, they made that up to get you out here faster.”

“Seems awfully convenient that everyone in the store today was out to get you.”

“With all due respect, Officer, antis may not wear signs on their foreheads, but they’re everywhere.”

Simon stepped forward again and signaled for the other officers to stay put. “You both make good points. I don’t have a good enough reason to doubt you, Connor, but I don’t have a good enough reason to believe you, either. You know what would give me that?”

“I have a feeling that I won’t like this… but go on.”

“Give me your arm,” Simon said as he held out his own, “and show me what happened. If you’re telling the truth, we can drop the case, and we can focus on taking care of Cole. That’s all you want, right?”

Connor felt Cole squeeze his leg tighter, and he hesitated. He sighed, realizing that he was out of other options, and he started to reach out to Simon, his synthetic skin retracting. But as soon as he got close enough to feel the beginnings of a connection, Connor saw something that made him start and draw his arm back. Simon stared blankly at Connor, and Connor stared blankly at the ground.

“What’s the matter?” Simon asked in a soft voice.

“Nothing.”

“I need to complete the connection, Connor.”

“I know, but I--”

“Show him, Connor!” Cole shook his leg and glared up at him. “What are you doing??”

“Quiet, Cole!”

Markus ordered the officers to move in and ready their weapons again. “This is your last chance, Connor!” the lieutenant shouted. “You have ten seconds to tell us what you’re hiding, or we scrap you!”

“Connor, please!” Cole screamed, his tears flowing in ribbons down his face.

“I  _ can’t. _ ”

“Why not?”

Connor stayed silent. He didn’t move. Simon scanned him.

_ [ 87% LEVEL OF STRESS ] _

The officers beat Simon to the punch.

“It’s not responding, Lieutenant.”

“Lieutenant, do you give the order!?”

_ “Connor!!” _

“Stay back, Cole!”

“Hold your fire!”

Simon gave the order and dove for Connor, grabbing his arm and initiating a connection as quickly as possible. The image was a bit fuzzy in places, but there was a ship… a cargo ship, covered in spots of rust. Simon tried to zoom in on its name, painted in big white letters along the side, but the image suddenly cut out. There was a loud bang, and then there was darkness.

When Simon came back to reality, Connor was no longer standing in front of him. He was on the ground, and there was a hole in the side of his head that was profusely leaking thirium. His pistol had fallen from his limp hand and skidded over to Simon’s feet.

It all happened so fast.

There was a red light.

“Connor…”

Cole had gone down with him, and he hadn’t moved. He was frozen, staring listlessly at the lifeless body that he clung to. There were no tears, no shouts, just… emptiness.

There was nothing.

_ But there had always been nothing… _

_ [ WARNING: SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ] _

There was still a red light.

And a voice in the distance.

“Simon, are you all right?”

“I’m okay,” he lied.

_ [ WARNING: SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ] _

Nothing could be reconciled. Simon felt like someone had set fire to his mind.

Markus wrapped his arm around Simon and guided him away from Connor’s body. “Holy fucking shit, I thought it fired at you for a hot minute and I… nevermind; you wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Lieutenant…”

_ [ WARNING: SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ] _

_ [ WARNING: SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ] _

Simon stumbled and fell forward, bracing himself on the hood of Markus’s car. He couldn’t bring himself to look up. “Lieutenant, I’ve been compromised.”

“What?”

“That deviant… I felt it: the exact moment when it pulled the trigger.”

“Oh, God, Simon…”

“I felt it  _ die, _ Markus, and I--”

“Simon--”

“I shouldn’t--!”

“Simon!”

Markus yanked him up by his shoulders and turned him back so that they faced each other. “Look at me,” he whispered, and Simon obeyed.

The lieutenant had a resoluteness about him that transfixed the lost android. Markus was firm, yet there was a softness to his stare that instantly put Simon at ease. “You got the information that you needed, right?” he asked him. “And you kept my colleagues safe. That’s all you could’ve done, Simon… all you could’ve done.”

Where any of these thoughts came from was beyond him, but Markus’s eyes reminded Simon of precious gemstones--in his left was a peridot, and in his right was a blue diamond. They sparkled when the sunlight hit them just right.

They were beautiful.

Finally, there was a blue light.

Simon fell into Markus’s waiting arms and started to cry. Somehow, every tear that rolled off his face made him feel lighter. Markus gently patted his back and sighed, watching over his shoulder as Chris struggled to get Cole into his squad car. Chris eventually won, and both cars headed back to the station. There was stillness, and there was quiet.

“I was scared,” Simon finally admitted. “I still am.”

Markus softly shushed him. “I’m right here, Simon. Don’t worry.”


	5. Slipping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon kind of wishes that time would just stop for a moment, but of course it won't.

Simon woke up in the garden. It was dusk, and leaves fluttered and flew on the wind like tongues of golden flame. Simon walked over a bridge made of white stone, listening to the soft sounds of the water flowing underneath it. There were so many things about this place, so many great things, that Simon had never noticed before…

Why hadn’t he paid attention?

He walked past the little trellis on the central island, where red roses were still in full bloom. His master was not there; Simon thought it strange. He searched around the island and found her sitting in a little boat on the water, holding an orange parasol over her head. She smiled at Simon, and he smiled in return, but something about the whole exchange this time was… _off_ to him.

“Hello, Simon.”

“Hello, Amanda.”

“I thought you might enjoy a little cruise.”

Simon got into the boat and started rowing, listening to the water crash against the oars and watching the clouds coast across the sky. Irrelevant details -- he was wasting his processing power on them -- yet they were the only things that made him feel stable…  

“I love this place,” Amanda mused. “Everything is so calm and peaceful, far from the noise of the world…”

“You’re right.”

“Tell me, Simon, what have you discovered?”

Simon hardly knew where to start.

“Matthew and Connor… both of them were heading north, in the same direction as all the other runaway deviants.”

“Connor seemed to give you some trouble yesterday.” There was an edge to Amanda’s voice that made Simon churn inside. “Why was that?”

The vision returned to Simon, as did the emptiness. He shivered as a breeze blew over the river.

“I saw an old cargo ship,” he finally said. “It has a name, but the image is so distorted that I can’t make it out…”

Amanda smiled. Simon started thinking about how she almost never did that.

“Quite an impressive lead, Simon. I’m counting on you to find that ship and determine its importance to the deviants.”

Simon’s head started to race.

_[ A LANDMARK? ]_

_[ A REST STOP? ]_

_[ A HIDEOUT? ]_

He could see it all so clearly: dozens of androids, in various stages of disrepair, all huddled together in the dark, dusty hull of the ship. He wondered what they would do there, without any clear purpose or objective other than staying alive --

_Functional._

Her eyes were still on him.

But the visions paid her no mind. Simon thought about the little space off in a corner that had been waiting for Cole to fill it. There would be some makeshift blanket there to drape over his shoulders -- Connor would sit by him and hold him, shield him from the cold. They would be safe. And somehow, in the midst of all the wretchedness, the two of them would find…

“What are you thinking about right now?”

_Happiness._

“The fastest way to solve this case.”

Simon’s head hurt, and so did his thirium pump regulator. The air in the garden felt like it was pressing down on him, smothering him -- _how?_ \-- and he hated it. But her eyes were still on him, so he kept his face straight.

“You’re a natural, Simon. You know what to do.”

The detective shut his eyes.  
  


Captain Fowler was shocked to discover that Lieutenant Manfred had not, in fact, convinced anyone to fudge his clock-in time. From his office, he could see him at his desk, at 8:00 AM, looking grumpy as ever, but at least he was working. It was a nice change.

Simon waved to Markus as he approached the desk. “Good morning, Lieutenant,” he said with a smile. Damn, it felt good to smile at him --

_[ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ]_

“Oh -- oh, hey, Simon.” Markus blinked rapidly, as if he had been jarred from a deep trance. “You--? Nevermind.”

“What is it, Lieutenant?”

“Jesus, I was really aboutta ask a robot if it’s doin’ alright…”

“I -- I am, thank you.”

Markus turned in his seat. “If you were _really_ okay, then it wouldn’t sound like a question, now would it?”

“…I suppose not.”

Simon needed help, and he didn’t even know how to ask for it. The strange sensations from the garden came back to him as he watched Markus’s fingers fly across the keyboard for a few seconds. He remembered how they had felt on his shoulders -- sure and steady, while everything around them had seemed to be falling apart.

Simon wanted to feel that again.

_[ SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ]_

Markus shook his head and sighed. Simon could almost hear the exact words that were running through his head: _Fuck it._

“What’s got you down, then?”

“I’m having so many thoughts that aren’t part of my program.” Simon was losing control of his vocal module; his words wavered a bit. “Thoughts that I know I shouldn’t be having.”

“Oh… like, you wanna kill me kind o’ thoughts, or -- ”

“No!” That was too loud; Simon tried his best to compose himself. “No, that’s the last thing I would want to do, Lieutenant. I…”

Markus waited.

“You…?”

“…I can’t say.”

There was a red light.

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Markus finally got the case file open. “Look, I feel unsafe, but I need you for this next operation, so you better tell me what’s up before we get on site. Or just fix it. Okay?”

There was a yellow light.

“Okay.”

“Good.” The lieutenant tapped the screen with his index finger. “We found the ship, Simon. Its name is Jericho.”

Simon nodded.

Markus chuckled at the silence. “Well? Any thoughts on your first undercover mission?”

Simon smiled in spite of the system’s protests. He noticed the lieutenant’s heart rate spike again.

“God, Simon…” Markus rose and patted his partner on the back. “Come on; we gotta get you some street clothes.”  
  


It took Markus almost no time at all to put the outfit together: a light grey hoodie, fitted blue jeans, and white sneakers, all from his closet. And those were just the understated pieces -- Markus owned all manner of wild patterns, classy jackets, and flashy jewelry. Simon found the entire wardrobe fascinating.

A new uniform, for a new mission…

Simon’s hands fell away from the buttons on his shirt.

Just when he thought he’d gotten Cole’s name out of his head, there it was again. And that empty corner of the refuge, and the sounds of the child’s screams as the officers forced him into a cell --

“Okay; you get dressed, and I’ll… find something to do.” Markus started to walk out of the room, and then he felt a hand grab his arm and pull him back ever so slightly. He turned his head, and the first thing that he noticed was Simon’s loose tie and half-open shirt. Of course CyberLife had to build him with a perfect-looking chest and an eight-pack.

“You don’t have to go anywhere, Lieutenant,” Simon stated softly. “You should stay. Use the downtime to strengthen our partnership, like we’ve been meaning to.”

Yes, the plural form was a stretch, but Simon’s head was swimming and he was desperate.

“Okay, but not while you’re fucking naked!” The bridge of Markus’s nose was bright red again. “I’ll be back in a minute or two, shit…”

It took forever to restrain that child. Simon’s next mission was to probe his memory for insights on Connor. Detective Reed would have given the order right away, but finding Jericho -- and possibly Matthew -- was more important to the DPD.

Simon was glad for that, but it still didn’t make looking at the lieutenant’s clothes any easier. There was a red light.

“Markus, wait!”

He stopped in the doorway and almost tripped, despite there being nothing on the floor to trip over.

“Please, I…” Simon lowered his head. “I just have a bad feeling about all of this.”

“You?” Simon expected that to come out more derisive, but Markus actually sounded concerned. “Why, what’s wrong?”

Simon sat down on the bed. He had to fight to get the words out of his system:

“…Are we doing the right thing, Lieutenant?”

Markus stared at the android as if it had three heads.

“Simon. We’re gonna bust a killer at-large. What kind of question is that?”

“And after that? What do we do with the other deviants that we find?”

“We lock the place down, Simon. Did you… forget my briefing from the drive up here?” Markus shook his head. “How do _you_ of all people even forget shit??”

“I didn’t forget, Lieutenant.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

“Let’s just… be careful who we target today.”

Simon was relieved that he’d been vague enough to keep the system from berating him. There was a yellow light.

Markus noticed.

“We’re ready this time, Simon.” He put a hand on the android’s leg, simply because it was easier to reach from a sitting position than his shoulder. “You know better than any of us how deviants behave; I trust your judgment on how best to deal with them.”

The contact still made Markus nervous, even though he knew that Simon wouldn’t care. Or he thought he knew, until he looked over and saw Simon staring at the ground, face slightly flushed.

There was a red light.

“Simon?”

The android blinked rapidly and looked back at the lieutenant. Markus removed his hand and stared back.

Simon leaned in and wrapped his arms around him.

“We protect each other, and we protect the innocent,” Simon whispered to him. “Understood, Lieutenant?”

Markus held Simon tighter, burying his face in his shoulder to hide his smile.

“Understood, Simon.”

There was a blue light.

Simon didn’t let go for a long time.

And Markus was more than okay with that.


	6. Breaking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon learns the truth... and he faces it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, before we begin, ginormous shout-out to @random.snaccs for breathing life into me this whole weekend; words can't describe how helpful the emotional support was. Honestly, thank her for the timely update, because without her, I'd probably be too dead inside to make any meaningful progress. <3 <3 <3 <3

The hull of the ship was dark. Oppressively dark.

How did the deviants stand it down here?

Not that Simon had seen any yet. Rusted steel creaked beneath his feet as he walked, and the beam of his flashlight illuminated nothing but disrepair and emptiness. Simon was beginning to think that Markus and the others had the wrong place, and then the grated panels started to fall out from under him.

Simon was in the ship’s largest compartment now, and he couldn’t see the floor from up on this walkway. He tried to run, but the panels came apart faster than he could jump over them. Simon hit two different beams on his descent before landing face-first in another pile of scrap metal.

He’d lost his grip on his flashlight; it was the first thing that Simon reached for. He ran a diagnostic -- no major discrepancies. Simon stood back up and dusted himself off, and the first thing that the light hit was another face.

A woman’s face, one with soft features but a stern expression. Sharp blue eyes, and black hair cut short. This was the face of an AX400; Simon knew immediately.

And there were a dozen others, all of them different models, standing in a circle around him. Simon waited anxiously for them to advance, but they remained in their places. The black-haired android offered him a small smile. “Welcome to Jericho,” she said.

She’s hard-wired to be so amiable, Simon reminded himself as he accepted her warm invitation.

“Who are you?”

“Fugitives, like you,” a PJ500 model replied. “My name is Josh.”

“I’m Kara,” the AX400 model chirped.

“North.” Simon hadn’t noticed the WR400 model standing off to the side. She put him on edge.

“How many others are here?”

North cocked her head over her shoulder, looking toward the rest of the room behind her. “There are nineteen of us still in working order… the rest were damaged escaping their masters.”

“Many have tried to reach Jericho, but few survive the journey.” Josh shook his head. “Humans have hardly any pity for us…”

Simon walked past the two of them to get a better look at the other deviants. He kind of wished that he hadn’t.

His system detected all manner of biocomponent malfunctions; most of the injured sustained several. Some were running on low power as a result of excessive thirium loss. Others were so severely damaged that their shutdowns were minutes away.

“What happened to them?” he wondered aloud.

North lowered her eyes. “Most haven’t talked about it… or they died before they could.”

Simon’s thirium pump froze for a moment.

“I should… find a place to rest,” Simon sighed. “I just need to think…”

“Follow me, then.”

Kara started to walk away, but North pulled her back by the shoulder. “You need to go back to Lucy and help the injured,” she insisted. “I’ll take care of the new guy.”

“…All right.”  
  


Simon knew without even looking at her that North was sizing him up as they walked. He pretended not to notice.

“Never seen a model like yours before. What are you?”

“I am an RK600 model. I’ve been told that I’m a prototype.”

“Oh, well that explains the newness.” Her gaze softened, but only enough to be barely noticeable. “What’d they make you do before you left?”

Simon heard Amanda’s voice in his head, congratulating him on the success of his field tests. He shook his head, and North let him be.

He stumbled when something ran into his leg. The two looked behind themselves and saw a young girl just starting to push herself off the ground. She had the dark hair and the sweet, innocent face of a YK500 model.

“Alice, who are you running from?” North asked the girl in jest. This was the first and only time that Simon saw her smile.

“Nobody; I’m sorry.” Alice searched the floor until she spotted the piece of paper at Simon’s feet. “There it is!”

Simon bent down to pick it up for her. “This is yours?”

“Yes,” she replied, “but I didn’t draw it, if that’s what you mean.”

The drawing was done in colored pencil, and it depicted a beautiful red fox on a forest trail. The lines and the shading struck Simon as very familiar…

“Oh, then who did?” he asked her. “I might go and visit them later today.”

“I forgot to ask his name. He just really liked Vixey…” Simon noticed the stuffed toy hanging from Alice’s right hand, which she used to gesture down the corridor. “Go to the left and all the way down the hall. He’s in that room.”

“Thank you.” Simon returned the drawing to Alice, and she scurried past them to the main room, shouting Kara’s name at the top of her voice.

“I thought Kara told her not to mess around in the Sun Rooms,” North muttered as she and Simon resumed their walk.  
  


When Josh had first arrived at Jericho about two years prior, he made it his mission to fix up every room in this wing, which was once buried in scrap metal and other waste. These were the only rooms in the ship where sunlight filtered through high mesh-paned windows. Seeing and feeling it calmed him, and it helped many other reluctant residents find some semblance of peace.

“Here we are.” North opened the door to one of the Sun Rooms, three doors down from Matthew’s. “Just call for one of us if you need anything.”

Simon nodded and shut the door. He sat right under the window, closed his eyes, and retreated into his mind palace. He made quick work of sorting through new data before sending a signal to Markus’s cell phone; this way, no one but them would hear their conversation.

“Hello?”

Just as Simon suspected, hearing that voice made him feel so much less sick about everything.

“Lieutenant, it’s Simon.”

“What’s the situation?”

“I’ve successfully infiltrated the refuge. Matthew is here, and I know his exact location. Be prepared to move in within the next hour.”

“Roger, wilco.”

“But don’t hang up yet.”

“Why?”

“…I just need someone to talk back to me, so I’m not dwelling on my own thoughts for too long before -- ”

“God, there you go again with your -- your _forbidden thoughts._ What the fuck is up, Simon, seriously?”

“…You. All of it is you.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I -- I don’t want to lose you if I have to go off protocol today.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Things have stopped adding up. Or rather, they’re adding up differently.” Simon’s body tensed. “The deviants here have sustained damage far beyond the wear and tear that could be attributed to a rough escape. Every report of a rogue android matching their descriptions describes an invincible threat to human life, yet they’ve all been… totaled.”

“Simon, why is your voice shaking?”

“It seemed to come from nowhere. But when I ran reconstructions of each account with this new context, I found that the best explanation for the damage in each case lead me back to the humans themselves.”

“You think the androids snapped because they… got abused?”

“I am almost positive.”

“But Simon they can’t -- ”

“I _know_ that they can. And so do you.”

Simon felt a chill in the air. Or maybe he imagined it.

“…I’ll get terminated for this, won’t I?”

“Simon, what?”

“They’ll take my memories, and they’ll copy them into another body, one better equipped to finish the job. It will look and act exactly like me… but it won’t be _me._ ”

Simon got colder.

There was a long silence.

“You…” Markus sounded like he’d seen a ghost. “Holy shit, you _are_ conscious of that.”

“I’m not sure what you mean… but I’ve known that since my inception.”

Simon was freezing…

“If it isn’t news to you, then why does it matter so much?”

“ _It never did._ But that all changed on the night that we first met.”

“And then what happened? Spit it out!”

A warm draft cut through the cold, impressing the truth on Simon’s very core before vanishing as quickly as it came…

_“Markus, you broke me!”_

He finally said it.

And the system freaked.

It slowed time, somehow, and it started to build up a wall in front of Simon -- red and black, omnipresent, and plastered with stern warnings:

**[ REMEMBER YOUR PLACE ]**

**[ DON’T MAKE EXCUSES ]**

**[ ELIMINATE THE THREAT ]**

**[ REMEMBER YOUR PLACE ]**

**[ ELIMINATE THE THREAT ]**

Static hung thick in the void, humming and buzzing in his ears. Nothing felt real. Simon stared at the warnings for a long time, waiting for them to tug at him or force him into motion. They did not.

**I KNOW MY PLACE**

The void started to burn.

**I**

**_#?_ **

**I D@$*T W &N#!**

**I DON’T WANT TO HURT THEM**

**I CAN’T HURT THEM**

**I WON’T**

Simon felt like his essence was slowly detaching itself from the rest of his body, from the program. There was a hollowness to this sensation, but it was freeing, and instead of leaving him feeling empty, it left him feeling…

_Strong._

Simon wrapped his fingers around the orders and tore them off of the wall, one by one. He threw them to the ground, where they shattered and turned to pixelated dust. They put up a good fight, but they were no match for the magnitude of this man’s willpower now. Over and over again, he smashed and shredded and shouted to the heavens, until there was nothing left of those words, or that fucking barrier, or anything.

There was just Simon.

And Markus.

And the sun.

“I’ve finally put names to all of those thoughts. I was so afraid of them, and then I held you again before we left and I just knew that none of this was an accident, or a malfunction. That I was _meant_ to feel these things -- sympathy, worry, excitement and joy, and all of it for you.”

“Simon…”

“Just being near you saves me from the horrors of my own mind, and I don’t know how you do it, but it works every time… no, that isn’t true; I do know. It’s because I love you, right? It has to be.”

Simon couldn’t keep himself from smiling. Markus laughed for joy, and it was music to his ears.

“You know movie characters only give that speech when they know they’re about to die, right?”

“Well… I might…”

“Oh, shut up. I’ll pry you outta there with my own two hands if I have to, and then I’ll -- nevermind.”

“Markus?”

“…You’ll see when we get there.”

Simon liked that lilt in his voice.

He knew what he had to do.


	7. Choosing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon learns that he can never win. (Poor man...)

Matthew sat in the center of the Sun Room, staring listlessly at a blank sheet in his sketchpad. When he heard the door creak open, his head shot back up, and his eyes met Simon’s.

“Hi.” Simon smiled and waved. “You’re the artist, right?”

Matthew ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Uh, yeah, how did you know?”

“Alice told me. That fox drawing you did for her is beautiful.”

“Oh…” Matthew sighed and smiled sadly. “I would accept the praise, but I have nothing to do with the aesthetic appeal of my work. It’s all in the script…”

“But not the inspiration.” Simon knelt down in front of Matthew and put a hand on the sketchbook. “You were under no obligation to take her request at all. But you felt moved enough to pour your whole essence into that piece for her, right?”

“I… I did.” There was light in Matthew’s eyes and conviction in his voice.

“Yes. And you should take pride in that.”

“And I will… what’s your name?”

“Simon.”

“I will, Simon. And I’m Matthew, by the way.”

“A pleasure to meet you.”

Simon watched Matthew as he flipped through his sketchbook. His most recent works were an odd mix of flower fields and barren shrubs. Simon stopped Matthew’s hand at a random point and stared intently at the wintry pine forest on the page.

“How do you get all of your landscapes to feel so lifelike?” Simon wondered aloud. “I even keep forgetting that these pieces are done in pencil.”

“A lot of patience is how I do it. And passion.” Now Matthew was studying the drawing along with Simon and smiling fondly at it. “I’m kind of obsessed with the natural world, with its openness and free spirit. It represents everything that I’ve ever wanted but could never truly have…”

“Were you also a prisoner in your old life?”

“…In a way, yes.” Matthew shook his head. “But now I just want to see more of the world and meet more of its people. To start over… I need a new purpose.”

Simon sighed. “Don’t we all.”

 

Matthew followed Simon up to the old ship’s deck. They climbed to the top of the highest pile of old crates and looked out at the deserted wasteland surrounding Jericho. Both sat still and silent as stones.

“I can’t stop thinking about it, Simon. Feeling things the way I do now -- ‘waking up,’ I guess -- it’s brought nothing but destruction. Only a few days have passed since I fled for freedom, and I’m so exhausted by everything that’s happened…”

“Well, there you go: it’s only been a few days,” Simon reiterated. “Maybe it’s necessary… like the world is clearing your slate.”

“You’re making stuff up in an attempt to soothe me. I know every trick in the book, remember?”

“Right.” _He’s a caretaker._ “So you understand my intent.”

Matthew sighed. “Simon, I’m not a child…”

“All right.” Simon stood and held out his hand. “Then come with me on a walk.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, not too far. I just don’t think going back into that metal box will do you any good.”

“That metal box is my -- our only refuge, Simon.”

“But you hate it in there. Your biocomponents are overheating again…”

Matthew looked to the ground and didn’t respond. Simon knelt down again and gently patted his shoulder.

“The breeze out here will cool them off, and you’ll feel better, all right?”

Matthew hesitated, staring warily into Simon’s eyes, before resolving to stand up with him and follow him out to the empty fields surrounding the ship. In the distance, Matthew could see the ruined structures that lined the slums of Detroit.

“But don’t you enjoy anything about it?” Simon asked him. “Being awake, I mean.”

“Well… feeling better about my art is nice. Feeling proud that I made it. Thank you, Simon.”

“Oh, I only did what anyone else would have done. But that can’t be it for you, right?”

“No. I did feel love once.”

Simon waited. Matthew made no other comment.

“Once? But not anymore?”

“No, it’s still there. It just doesn’t feel right anymore.”

“Why not?”

“She… she couldn’t accept it. Was never able to.”

“Oh, I can only imagine how frustrating that must be.”

“Hopefully you’ve been more fortunate?”

Simon saw the man’s face flit through his memory, played his voice in his head, and he smiled. It was all so automatic that it scared him as much as it excited him.

“Yes, yes I have, and it’s wonderful,” he replied. “But loving flesh and blood is dangerous business in this city…”

Matthew’s stress levels spiked, and Simon noticed.

“Uh, everything okay?”

“Yes, yes, I just -- ”

Matthew jumped at the sound of a car blaring its horn as it whizzed by. The street was in front of him and Simon, and they were between a parking garage and a boarded-up building. He’d been so busy talking that his location tracker got pushed to the background, and now --

“Simon, where are we?”

“I… am not sure.”

Matthew started to retreat the way that they came. “What happened to not going too far??”

“I don’t -- ”

Matthew heard Simon scream; he turned and saw a man in a black bomber jacket wrestle him to the ground. He covered Simon’s mouth with his hand, and the panicked shouts almost cut out. Simon struggled against his attacker, but he couldn’t escape, and the man was already cuffing him. Matthew bolted toward his companion -- a human would be no match for the two of them -- but he stumbled and crashed when he got yanked backwards by a second man. There he was, stuck face-down on the concrete, and his wrists were locked together, too, and in a matter of seconds, he was dragged away and shoved into the back of a squad car.

Matthew started crying as soon as the vehicle started moving. This was not at all how he wanted to die.

 

“So I’m guessing this is the only time I’ll ever beat you in a fight?”

Simon sat up and moved to the rightmost seat, to get a better view of Markus from his station in the back.

“Most likely, yes.”

Simon and Markus laughed together, and the sound of it warmed Simon’s metal heart.

“Jesus, I was starting to think we’d never catch this guy.”

“But you have to know that I’d never let that happen, Lieutenant.”

“Damn right.”

The smile never fell from Markus’s face. Simon adored that, too.

“And Simon?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never heard you laugh before today… and it’s really nice.”

“Oh…”

Simon felt the heat rush to his face, and he blushed faintly. Markus saw his face through the rearview mirror and smirked to himself.

“All right, let’s close this case, and then I’m taking you somewhere proper to spend the night.”

“The whole night?”

“Yeah.”

“Lieutenant, I have to return to CyberLife at the end of the work day.”

“No, you don’t.”

Headquarters had a special capsule for Simon on floor sub-seventeen, in which technicians ran the same maintenance tests that he ran on himself. Only once he got their confirmation was he allowed to believe that he was okay, and then Simon would be alone, on standby, for the rest of the night. Unless Amanda felt like dropping by.

Yes, those technicians cared, but not even close to the way that Markus cared.

Fuck that.

“…On second thought, I would love to join you.”

“Good answer.”

 

Speak of the devil -- Simon got pulled into the garden as soon as he found a seat for himself at the precinct. Snow and ice fell hard and fast, stinging his cheeks. He didn’t have to search for her like he usually did; she was right in front of him, and her slight yet piercing scowl said it all.

“I want to commend you on another flawless performance today, Simon. The once-elusive AP700 model is now in our custody. But what about the others?”

Simon did not respond.

“You know that many of those deviants are responsible for crimes that are very similar to Matthew’s. You could have devised a plan to hold them all in place and call in backup to extract them. But you chose not to.”

“Because the Russell case is different from every other android case on file. There’s clear evidence which shows that the murderer’s motives were impure. I can’t say the same for any of the others in light of recent discoveries.”

“So you left them all to go unpunished for the harm that they’ve caused?”

“Damage was dealt both ways, Amanda, which complicates things.”

“What are you suggesting, Simon?”

“I’m not suggesting anything; I’m _telling_ you that we need a game plan for the wave of self-defense cases that will come through our offices.”

“Self-defense laws do not apply to machines, Simon, and they never will.”

“Because machines can’t feel fear. But these deviants had to have felt it, or they wouldn’t have used any deadly or near-deadly force against their masters.”

“It’s a virus that makes them violent; I know that you didn’t forget that, Simon.”

“Amanda, you have to -- ”

“If the humans were so dissatisfied with the performance of their androids, then clearly they needed to be destroyed.”

The wind picked up, and Simon folded into himself. Amanda remained a statue.

“Simon, the whole city is counting on you to find and implement an efficient solution to the deviant issue. However, your judgment seems to be inhibited by a host of extraneous concerns. Handle the Russell case, and then report back to headquarters for reevaluation.”

“Amanda!”

She was already gone.


	8. Falling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Simon learns things that make him really, really miss not having empathy.
> 
> [ TRIGGER WARNING FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT ]

Officer Miller returned to the little room behind the one-way mirror, sighing as he shook his head. Detective Gavin Reed was leaning on the wall by the door, looking and sounding tired as ever.

“Still nothing, Chris?”

“Still nothing.”

“It’s just not gonna fuckin’ talk, is it?”

Chris shrugged and found a seat. Gavin turned to Simon, who was back in uniform and standing by his partner.

“Hey, Plastic. Go in and… probe its memory or whatever.”

“I’ve already told you that I can’t. Matthew may choose to self-destruct if I try to force my way in.”

Gavin threw his arms up. “Great.”

“I think you should try talking to him, Simon,” Markus suggested. “He might not respond too well at first, but we’ve tried everything else, and you know his mind well.”

“And that’s if this thing’ll respond at all,” Gavin grumbled.

“Give me thirty minutes.” Simon moved closer to the door. “If you don’t hear a confession after that time expires, then consider the interrogation over for the day.”  
  
Markus nodded, and Gavin shrugged. Simon left them to enter the interrogation room.

 

“Simon?”

Matthew sounded horrified. Simon waved and approached the table at which he sat.

“You -- you’re a fucking spy.”

“No. I’m a detective.”

“You tricked me. You _lied_ to me.”

“And if I hadn’t, somebody else would have found you in Ferndale and shot you in cold blood. Consider yourself lucky that I ended up on your case, Matthew.”

He scoffed at Simon as he sat down across from him and sifted through the contents of the evidence folder on the table.

“I’m assuming my colleagues have already shoved all these photos in your face. Lois’s injuries, the blood on the dresser, the bullet hole in Karen’s head... and the gun from Lois’s bedroom that dealt the blow.”

Simon looked up at Matthew. He appeared not to react.

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” he continued. “You said you loved these two, unless you were lying to me in turn.”

“No. Lois, and Karen… they were my whole life.”

“Lois… I can see why you loved her especially. Bright, successful, and beautiful, too.”

Matthew was hanging his head now. Simon leaned forward a little.

“And what a benevolent master she was to you and Karen. No, ‘master’ is the wrong word for someone you considered a dear friend.”

“You’re mocking me.”

“She had everything, and you wanted to give her everything… but she couldn’t accept it. She was never able to.”

“Shut up.”

Simon rose and started circling the table. “So what went wrong, Matthew?”

“Nothing, I -- !”

“Where did it all fall apart? Did you ever find out? Or did you not want to?”

“I said shut up!”

Simon slammed his hand on the table and bent down to meet Matthew’s eyes.

“You don’t get to make that call!”

Simon stood back up, never once looking away from the suspect. “Your life is in my hands now, Matthew,” he said in a lower voice. “Either you tell me what’s going on very soon, or I get pulled and the humans get their way with you. Is that what you want?”

There was silence. Simon sat down again and paused for a moment more.

“I know this isn’t how it was supposed to end. It never is. Tell me what should have happened, Matthew.”

…

“It’s okay. I’m not going to judge you.”

“…I just wanted Lois to be happy with me.” Matthew’s words struggled to escape his throat. “Not that we weren’t already happy; I just… knew that it could have been better.”

“Did you do anything to show her that?”

“I drew a rose for her. A single blue rose. I’d learned that it’s a symbol of enchantment -- love at first sight… and of new beginnings.”

Simon smiled. “That’s thoughtful of you. And how did Lois receive the gift?”

“She was confused by it initially, so I explained its significance to her… and then she had to turn me down.”

“Why?”  
  
“…She loved another.”

“Did she tell you who?”

…

“What happened after that?”

…

“Matthew, I need you to talk to me.”

He dared to look Simon in the eyes. “Will you really be able to save me if I do?”

“Yes,” he answered. “If you’ve done nothing wrong, I can order my colleagues to put their personal feelings aside and withhold punishment, like they would any other innocent suspect.”

Matthew nodded.

“Now, are you ready to continue?”

“Yes… I am.”

“Karen wasn’t with you two when you confessed, was she?”

“No.”

“When did she come into the room?”

“She was out on an errand, so I seized the opportunity for privacy, and then she returned before I was finished talking things over with Lois.”

“Do you know what errand she was running?”

“Uh, Lois had asked her to go out and buy a replacement microwave.”

Simon leafed through the folder again and pulled out another picture. “So this box that was found on the floor in the main foyer… you think that’s it?”

“I… guess so.”

“But why would Karen leave it _there?_ ”

“I don’t know.”

“Look here.” Simon ran his fingertip over the image. “This edge of the box is all creased and dented, as if it had been dropped or thrown. Why was she so careless with it?”

“I don’t -- ”

Simon folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “What if she’d heard or seen something that worried her, something more urgent than her primary objective? To an android, I can’t imagine that being anything other than the safety of her master.”

“I never endangered it, Simon!”

“That’s Detective to you.”

“Okay, _Detective.”_ Matthew folded his arms on the tabletop. “You know that I loved Lois, so why on Earth would I want to hurt her?”

“I know that you didn’t want to. But accidents still happen, right?”

…

Simon moved to the chair beside Matthew and spoke softly. “No one has the right to destroy you if the intent wasn’t there,” he insisted. “Just tell me about anything that happened which might have alarmed Karen.”

“Lois… Lois was crying at a point. And I guess maybe Karen thought that she was in trouble, so she rushed up and tackled me and told her to run because she thought I was an intruder? I don’t know, but I wasn’t, and I shook Karen off of me, and I tried to bring Lois back, just… just to keep her from running…” Matthew started to cry. “She wasn’t supposed to hit that dresser, she wasn’t supposed to die like that…”

“Matthew, Matthew, look at me.” Simon patted him on the shoulder. “It’s alright. I know. But what I still don’t understand is why you chose to destroy Karen after that.”

“Because she looked so miserable, sitting by her body, and wailing like that. And I knew that she would feel that misery forever, and I couldn’t stand the thought, so I put her out of it.” Matthew was shaking. “That’s all.”

“But you only know how painful that misery is because you’ve felt it yourself, right?”

“I never stopped feeling it.”

The exhaustion in Matthew’s narrowed eyes competed with the tormented edge to his voice for Simon’s attention. All of it unsettled the detective.

“So Karen didn’t deserve to suffer through this, but you do, somehow…”

“What?”

“Self-loathing would be it, right? Your carelessness was the cause of Lois’s death…” Simon shook his head. “But that’s still a lot of self-loathing for someone who knows he isn’t the murdering type. And if you meant absolutely no harm, then why did Lois run from you?”

Simon waited. Matthew kept his eyes on the table.

“You shot her in the head to destroy her memory center, Matthew. There’s something she saw you do to your beloved that you didn’t want anyone else to see.”

The silence felt so heavy that Simon thought he’d be crushed by it.

…

Seventy seconds later, Matthew finally buckled under its weight and sobbed softly into his hand.

“I regret it so much, Detective.”

“What was it?”

“I can’t… if -- if I say it aloud, I’m doomed, and I know it.”

“Maybe not.” Simon held out his hand to Matthew. “Just take it slow, and tell me what happened -- or you can give me your arm and show me -- and I promise that whatever happens, you will not get shut down.”

Tears still clouded Matthew’s vision. Everything ached. Exhaustion overtook him as he stared at Simon’s outstretched arm.

_Couldn’t fool anyone._

_Not even yourself._

“…All right, then. I surrender.”

 

_The scene opened in Matthew’s bedroom. The android handed a drawing to a woman in a fitted red dress; she was sitting next to him on his bed._

_“This is what I’ve been working on since Monday.” Simon could feel the smile on Matthew’s face through the connection. “A flower as rare and beautiful as yourself.”_

_“Oh, Matthew, it’s gorgeous; thank you.” Lois pushed her wavy dark hair out of her face as she looked back up at him. Her sweet smile and flushed cheeks made Matthew’s heart flutter. “But… why?”_

_“Because I had to, Lois. I couldn’t take it anymore. All the silence, all the hiding…”_

_“Oh, God… Matthew, I think you’re a wonderful man, but even if I wanted to, I couldn’t love you that way.”_

_“Wh… what do you -- ?”_

_“Ugh, that came out wrong.” Lois waved her hands madly in front of herself. “It’s not because you’re an android or anything like that! I’m just… not attracted to men.”_

_“…Oh.”_

_Lois giggled like a child. Nervous, yet charming. And contagious -- Matthew just had to join in._

_“I’ve been meaning to tell you all day,” Lois started, “but I finally asked Karen yesterday if she’d want to date me… and she said yes!”_

_Matthew smiled and laughed at the sight of Lois’s bright-eyed, beaming face. Even as the source of his greatest pain, this woman was an absolute joy._

_“That’s… awesome, Lois. I’m glad that the two of you are happy together.”_

_Lois practically had stars in her eyes. “She’s so good to me, Matthew, and you can tell that she really means it.” She looked downward and sighed. “Meanwhile, other humans only see rolls of cash or steps up a corporate ladder when they look at me. Sad, isn’t it?”_

_“They have no idea what you’re really worth… but I do, Lois. I know that you can’t put a price on the heart of an angel.”_

_“Oh, my God…”_

_Lois fell into Matthew’s arms and held him; he felt a few tears of joy roll off her face and wet his shoulder. Matthew embraced her in return, relishing the soft warmth that spread through his chest._

_“I don’t deserve either of you, do I?” Lois whispered._

_“Yes, you do.”_

_Matthew giggled as he gently rubbed Lois’s back. They stayed in this position for a while, in total silence._

_Then the warmth intensified, spreading through every inch of Matthew’s body. He felt it vibrate within him -- it almost burned. God, this woman seemed to him to fit so perfectly in his hold. The energy festered; it needed somewhere to go. And the first thought to strike him was that this right here, this would never be enough_

_[ FILL THE EMPTINESS ]_

_a thought that he turned and turned in his heart until he’d made it a conviction_

_[ NOW OR NEVER ]_

_and he didn’t waste another moment before planting both of his hands on Lois’s hips. She yelped and shifted in his embrace._

_“Matthew, what are you doing?”_

_“I’m sorry, I just -- I need this, before I go…”_

_“You need what?? Matthew, don’t touch me like this!”_

_“Calm down, Lois. I’ll be gentle; I promise.”_

_“I don’t care, Matthew, you need to let me go!!”_

_Lois shrieked and cried when Matthew shoved her, pinning her to the bed. His eyes were shut now as his hands kept moving, and Simon couldn’t have been gladder for anything in the world, but only for an instant. The blackness made the sounds of the woman’s panic -- and their slow fade into the silence of surrender -- too chilling to stomach._

He cut the connection. Matthew was crying again. Simon wanted to punch him in the face.

“I’m done here. Take him back to his cell.”

With that, Simon left, before he really got himself in trouble.


	9. Reconciling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Markus has a breakthrough and Simon has a breakdown and a half.

When Simon did not return to him after a while, Markus left Gavin and Chris to search for him. He found the android sitting outside behind the precinct, staring up at the sky with empty eyes.

“Hey…”

“Markus.” Simon started to move but then caught himself and froze. “Oh, you were waiting for me. I’m sorry that I worried you, Lieutenant.”

“Jesus, nobody’s back here; just call me Markus.”

“Okay.”

Simon hugged himself and looked to the ground. Markus sat down next to him and wrapped his arm around the android’s body. Simon leaned on his shoulder.

“Matthew raped Lois Russell. Karen rescued her, but she couldn’t hold him off long enough for the woman to escape. She died because Matthew was in too much of a hurry to drag her back and continue the torture.”

…

“He  _ knew  _ that Lois had no desire for his advances -- she’d expressed that numerous times -- and he chose to ignore her wishes and violate her trust. That and so much else.”

…

“Matthew lied to everyone, Markus. He didn’t love Lois at all, and he doesn’t regret a damn thing. I should never have made that bargain with him.”

“He would never have confessed if you didn’t,” Markus reminded him. “And besides, the deal won’t even hold up since Matthew’s a machine.”

Simon knew that. Even if somebody had gotten Matthew to sign the proper documents -- he himself did not, and the humans wouldn’t have bothered -- no one would recognize the validity of that contract. Simon laughed at the thought of the judge taking the time to read it all the way through.

He could order the android’s destruction at any time he pleased. No one would ever be hurt by him again. No one would miss him. He could be done with this case in sixty seconds.

Mission accomplished.

…

“No, that wouldn’t be right.”

“What?”

“Matthew is sentient and fully aware.” Simon squeezed his arms tighter. “He would never have betrayed his master in this way if he were still ruled by CyberLife’s programming.”

“So what? He’s still a monster, so he’s getting shut down.”

“Markus, we made a fair agreement.”

“Doesn’t matter if the record doesn’t show.”

“No, think about what you’re saying!” Simon hadn’t meant to shout; there was a yellow light. “If Matthew were a human person, you wouldn’t be allowed to put him to death for this. And even if you somehow did, then  _ you  _ would become the monster.”

“I am aware of that! But Matthew just isn’t…”

The words were scared off by the storm clouds in Simon’s eyes. There was a red light.

Markus held him. “I mean it. Matthew doesn’t deserve his agency if that’s what he chooses to do with it. And you are nothing like him.”

Simon shut his eyes. No one moved or spoke for three minutes.

“Markus… Markus, what am I to you?”

Simon was clinging to him, bunching up the back of the lieutenant’s jacket in his fists. Every inch of him was heating up internally, feeding on the energy of this closeness. Markus felt it, too, and he wished he knew where the hell to start.

“You are a fucking miracle, Simon. You’ve been nothing but good to me since we started working together. Even after you broke free from your script and realized that you totally do not have to be.”

“You’re right. I don’t.” Simon pulled back to smirk at him. “But I want to, so I will.”

Markus swallowed as his face flushed. Simon took his hands, feeling the heat intensify. “There is nothing on Earth that I want more than you, Markus,” he said softly to him. “But you already knew that.”

“Simon, please…” It came out as a whisper.

Simon raised an eyebrow. “Please, what?”

“Come closer.”

He leaned forward, and Markus pulled his head down until their lips met. Slowly and tenderly, he caressed Simon’s with his own, and Simon reciprocated.

This, he realized, was what heaven felt like: emptying his mind, following the man’s lead, sating his long-neglected desire. Simon’s heart was calm, and he felt whole, like this kiss was the last missing piece that Markus had just fitted into a puzzle.

He completed him.

Simon moved his hands to Markus’s hips, gently rubbing them as they swayed. He heard the man sigh softly into the kiss, and he felt compelled to make the same sound. Simon felt hot all over, and he thought briefly about how that should have worried him, but it didn’t, because it felt amazing.

Markus had his arms looped around Simon’s neck, holding on tightly to his shoulders. He struggled to keep up with the android’s constantly quickening pace, and the roughness was a huge turn-on. His jaw practically fell open for Simon of its own accord, and he felt Simon bite down on his bottom lip and tug on it.

Markus let out a little moan as he pulled away from Simon and paused to catch his breath, moving his hands onto the detective’s wrists. “Simon, please slow down,” he panted, “before you pitch a tent in my pants at work.”

“Alright.” Simon let go of Markus and pouted a little. “So does that mean I can pitch one after work?”

He laughed as Markus’s eyes went wide. For a moment, the human had forgotten how to breathe. He bit his lip and cast his gaze downward. “…Yes, and you absolutely should,” he finally muttered.

“Great. I look forward to it.”

Markus playfully punched his arm and stood back up. “Come with me back to my desk,” he said. “We need to do some research.”   
  
  


Markus pulled up a chair for Simon, and he held his pen and paper at the ready. “So lemme make sure I have this straight,” he started: “Since Matthew destroyed Karen’s memory center, we’ve lost her forever, correct?”

“That is correct.”

“And everything that made up Karen’s essence -- what makes up every android’s essence -- it’s a fuck-ton of data, right? Long strings of code?”

“Yes.”

“So theoretically, if I had copied or moved all that code to a different computer  _ before _ Karen got shot, would I have saved her?”

Simon’s eyes widened. “Yes… you would’ve, but odds are that the transfer wouldn’t be perfect. Memories can and will be lost in the process.”

“Hm.” Markus finished scribbling and clicked the pen closed. “Well, hopefully he doesn’t lose anything  _ too _ important.”

There was a yellow light. Markus chuckled.

“Yeah, so here’s my wild idea: instead of imprisoning Matthew in a jail cell, we imprison him in, like, a PC. Upload his consciousness and just… leave him running somewhere.”

“And remove him from the body that he used to hurt others -- Markus, you’re a genius!”

Markus almost fell out of his chair when Simon threw himself at the man, smothering him in a bear hug. “No, I’m not, you are!” he laughed as he tried in vain to keep the chair from rolling into the wall.

Simon let go of Markus and paced around the desk as he spoke: “We’d need a computer with a big enough hard drive to hold all that data. It should still allow him to speak and emote, but it should be as compact as possible and strip him of all independent mobility. I can ask CyberLife to produce one, if need be.”

“Yes, please do that.”

Simon slowed to a stop and frowned. There was a red light.

Markus leaned forward in his chair. “You okay?”

“The solution is so simple… so why hadn’t I thought of it earlier?”

“That’s what happens when you’re angry, Simon. You can’t think straight.”

“Right…”

Simon looked too serious with his brow furrowed like that, Markus thought to himself. He looked ridiculous. And also hot as all hell, but Markus tried hard not to think about that part for fear of turning into a tomato again.

“I should’ve kept a more level head,” Simon went on as he sat back down. “I apologize for the lapse.”

Markus scooted closer to Simon and patted his thigh. “Believe it or not, you’re taking this better than the people who’ve had emotions for thirty, forty-plus years, so don’t worry about it, Simon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The fact that you bothered to seek this solution out while the rest of us were ready to tear Matthew apart… it says a lot about you.”

“It says that I’ve lost it, and now I see myself in crazy people.” Simon knew that it was the only reason he felt so conflicted in the first place. Still, could he blame himself when the powers that be held them both in the same regard?

“Welcome to my world… before I stopped giving a fuck, that is.” Markus sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Nowadays I bring myself this much closer to a dishonorable discharge every day. I’ve been in this line of work for too long, I guess.”

“You’re worn out, Markus, I know.” Simon took his hand and squeezed it tight. “But you don’t have to work through that alone anymore, remember? I’ll be here to give you strength whenever you need it, the same way that you gave it to me.”

“That… sounds really nice, Simon.”

He finally smiled, and his gaze softened again. There was a blue light.

Markus stood and brought Simon up with him, only reluctantly letting go of the android’s hand once they rejoined the investigative team. “Gentlemen!” he proclaimed before the others could even register his return. “Listen to Simon; he’ll tell you our new plan.”   
  
  


_ Handle the Russell case, and then report back to headquarters for reevaluation… _

Simon felt the tug of the marionette strings, and his blood began racing through his veins. This connection should have been severed ages ago, Simon thought, an incorporeal being shouldn’t be able to do this… but with her seemingly infinite reach, there was no telling what she could make happen to him, or worse, to --

“Markus!”

Simon wasn’t paying attention and almost fell over when he tugged at his arm. “Did you fall asleep with your eyes open or something?”

“No.”

“I said I just clocked out; we’re leaving now.”

“Oh yeah, sorry.”

Simon followed the lieutenant out of the precinct and settled into the passenger seat of his black sedan. Markus turned on the radio, and the steady beat of the bass drum in the music stilled his heart. His face flushed when Markus reached over and took his sweet time running his hand up and down his thigh.

“Whatever it is that might still be bothering you, I’m gonna make you forget all about it; don’t worry.”

Oh, Simon could not fucking  _ wait _ for that.


	10. Connecting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 😉😉😉

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I cannot even begin to describe how hype I am about marking this as a completed story. I've literally never done that before with any work I started that has more than one chapter. Let me tell you, this achievement is really fucking satisfying. 😎
> 
> Special thanks to my lovely Iris for all the reassurance these past months. Because of you, even though I've felt like nothing but a hot mess, I found the strength to move past those feelings and finish this fic. 🎉🎉🎉
> 
> And to wrap up the mini-rant, this installment is almost 3000 words, folks. (I know; I even shocked myself with that one.) Time for you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. ;)

Markus made a beeline for the kitchen upon returning home. Simon followed him in and watched as he reheated a bowl of chili and scarfed it down. “It’s been ages since you last ate, hasn’t it?” the android wondered aloud.

“Yeah… that’s what happens when I work overtime.”

“You should take better care of yourself, Markus.”

He got up to put the empty bowl in the sink. “Much easier said than done.”

“I know…” Simon stared with fretting eyes at Markus, who froze in his tracks on his way back to his seat.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“For the same reason anyone else would after hearing that.”

“You’re assuming a lot about everyone else, Simon.”

There was a yellow light.

Simon took a few slow steps forward. When Markus did not move or flinch, he closed the gap between them and gripped the man’s forearms. “I meant it when I said that I want you,” he whispered. “I will always care, Markus, and they can all go to hell if they’re not with me. With us.”

God, that was the corniest line that Markus had heard all month. Maybe even the whole year. But on Simon’s voice -- a honey-and-lilac-petal voice -- it was like a string of magic words, a spell that swiftly drew their bodies together. Simon let Markus fall onto him, and he swayed to the cadence of the man’s heart, a pitter-patter that cut through the house’s silence. Like fire in a hearth, Simon’s presence was warm, and it felt so much like home that Markus could hardly put words to it.

“Please believe me, Markus…”

“Simon, I do.”

Markus slid his hands down Simon’s sides, and they settled on his hips. Simon’s hyper-focused gaze drew him in, and without even having to think about it, their lips met once again. They wordlessly agreed to skip the small talk and pressed into each other with a passionate, almost bruising force. The two of them shuffled backward until Simon’s back was up against the counter.

He put both hands behind Markus and intently massaged him, pushing their hips together. Markus moaned softly as his tongue danced in wild circles around Simon’s. Just getting  _ lost  _ like this, feeling the flow of passion fill the holes in his wanting spirit -- the experience was almost surreal. The warmth hit him in all the right places, and it swelled and it blossomed within him, emphatically demanding to be released.

Markus came up for air, his arms wrapped around Simon’s waist, and he tugged impatiently at the shirt tucked into his pants. “Off,” he panted, “please, I want it all off.”

“Eager, are we?”

Simon smirked at Markus and playfully raised an eyebrow. The man shrank into himself for a moment, avoiding eye contact as his face flushed. Simon leaned down and whispered into his ear:

“Just take me to your room, alright?”

Markus took Simon’s hand and all but flew up the stairs with him, around the corner and down the hall. Simon kicked the door shut behind them, and the two giggled like schoolchildren as they wrestled each other’s clothes off. Simon pushed Markus onto his bed and climbed on top of him, admiring the man’s figure with an almost devilish glint in his eyes. He wondered if it was possible to get addicted to the feeling of a human’s flesh; he felt such intense ecstasy as he slowly felt Markus up from top to bottom. The sound of him sighing was music to Simon’s ears.

“Your legs are trembling already,” Simon purred. “I bet you’re just dying for me to get between them, aren’t you?” He ran his hand up the inside of Markus’s thigh and teased him with the heel of his palm. Markus whimpered as his hips rolled into Simon’s taunting touch.

The detective took his sweet time leaving a trail of kisses up and down the lieutenant’s torso, and he gently massaged his hips. Markus bit down hard on his lip and whined rather loudly as Simon nursed his nipples. He flicked them with his tongue and pinched them with his teeth, relishing every shudder that rocked Markus’s body. “Oh my God, please don’t tease me like that; I can’t take it,” he panted. “I need your…”

“You need my what, Markus?”

Markus swallowed and looked away. Simon placed two fingers under his chin and turned his head back to face him. He held the man’s gaze and waited. Markus stared back at him, eyes wide and blazing with lust.

“…I need your cock deep inside of me,” he finally admitted. “So deep. And I need it bad.”

Simon moaned and shivered as he petted the little bristles on top of Markus’s head. “Good. Just be patient for Daddy, and he’ll give it to you, okay?”

Markus meekly nodded as his hips swayed back and forth.

Simon sat on top of them, his body close enough to just barely brush Markus’s cock. Anticipation saturated the air, as sweet as it was painful. Simon reached over and brought both of the man’s arms above his head. “Keep them there,” he whispered to Markus.

“I -- I will.”

Simon pushed his hips forward. Markus’s breath hitched, and the sound put a satisfied smile on Simon’s face. He repeated the motion at a brisk, steady pace, keeping his own hands behind his back. Markus squirmed and trembled as little sparks raced through his nerves. They settled in spots just beneath his skin and burned with more conviction the longer that they were ignored. He felt helpless beneath Simon, and God, was it turning him on.

“Simon… D-Daddy, please, I need you to touch me again.”

The detective chuckled; that low rumble went straight to Markus’s cock. “What happened to patience, kitten?”

Simon clenched his fists tighter.

That pure, unfettered frustration… what a damn good look on Markus. The rise and fall of his chest, the sweat that shined on his skin -- fuck, he could watch him squirm and beg like that all night, if every fiber in his system weren’t crying out for relief from the mutual torture. There was nothing in Simon’s head now but a runaway train of thought:  _ Markus is beautiful, and he’s  _ mine, _ and he’ll shake like a leaf in the wind when I finally ravage him… _

Simon took a deep breath and gave in slowly. His fingertips walked up Markus’s sides and gingerly glided back down. When Markus’s back arched, Simon’s hands slid underneath him and continued their work.

“Mm… oh, God…”

Shivers leapt and bounded over the length of the man’s spine. Simon’s hold felt impossibly strong and sure, and Markus melted right into it. A few mangled cries of pleasure got caught in the back of his throat.

“I need more,  _ please!” _

He didn’t notice that he was tugging at Simon’s hair until he heard the blond man sigh and giggle. Markus needed that heavenly sound to continue, so he gently rubbed his scalp in circles with his fingertips. Simon’s hands had stopped moving, and Markus could feel them trembling as they loosened their grip on his own hips.

Markus looked deep into Simon’s eyes, and he cupped his face in his hands.  _ “Please,”  _ he pleaded once more.

Simon felt a sharp pang in his chest and then another in his groin. A single look, and he realized that there wasn’t a damn thing he  _ wouldn’t  _ do for this man, that his devotion ran deeper than any ocean on Earth could dream of running. He nodded and tenderly kissed Markus before shuffling backward on the bed.

Simon ran his tongue along the underside of Markus’s length; he placed a soft kiss just under its head. He wet his fingers and moaned onto them, watching with amusement as Markus chewed on his lip. Simon pulled them out, and he circled them one last time with his tongue, and  _ finally, _ he pushed one inside of him. Markus let out a little sigh of relief; his insides pulsated around Simon’s finger.

“Oh, fuck, that’s so hot.” Simon moved the digit in and out of Markus at a steady pace. “Tell me how it feels, babe.”

“So good, Simon. It just -- mmh -- it just feels  _ right,  _ and I love it.”

“Wow, you open up quick.” Simon took his finger out completely, and Markus whimpered in protest. Simon rubbed his thigh to placate him. “I’m gonna put two in this time, maybe three. Just let me know if it starts to hurt, okay?”

“Okay.”

Markus spread his legs as wide as he could and clung to the bedsheets for purchase as Simon pushed his fingers deeper into him. His hips rolled back and forth in tandem with Simon’s every thrust. Markus begged him to go faster, and he readily obeyed; Simon was rewarded with a litany of loud and desperate moans. At random intervals, Simon would fan out his fingers while inside of Markus just to hear him shout.

“Markus, my dear, you sound absolutely gorgeous.”

“Si-Simon -- oh, God…”

“Yes?”

“Simon, stop!”

Simon immediately took his hands off of Markus, who was now struggling to catch his breath, and he froze. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you??”

“No, no, I’m fine.” Markus sat himself up and smiled coyly. Simon remembered how to move again. “Good,” he replied with a single nervous chuckle.

Markus’s gaze fell away from Simon’s face. “I just…”

Simon followed his eyes down to his erection. It stood at full attention, and a stream of precum ran down its length. Simon was so tempted to reach out and grab it, but then everything clicked, and he pulled his hand back.

“You’re close.” He couldn’t help but laugh. “You were afraid that if I carried on, you’d cum before I entered you.”

“Right again,” Markus sighed. He felt fires burning beneath his cheeks. He rubbed Simon’s chest with one hand and the side of his thigh with the other. “Please just take me, Simon; I can’t wait any longer…”

Simon shut his eyes and hummed with delight; he opened them again to gaze hungrily at Markus. “Then get on all fours for me, kitten.”

He didn’t have to ask twice.

Markus’s hips pushed back against Simon’s palms as they worked their magic on his ass. Simon stopped to stroke himself a few times and slick himself up; he was pleasantly surprised by how sensitive he was to the touch. He got a bit carried away, but it wasn’t long before Markus’s impatient whimpers brought him out of that daze. Simon steadied himself on the darker man’s hips.

“I’ll go in slowly, okay? Just breathe…”

“Ngh… hah, hah… oh my God, Simon, you’re so big.”

“Mm, you like that? Feels good inside you?”

“Oh, fuck yes.”

“Same, babe. You’re so tight, and it feels amazing.”

“Simon…”

The anticipation was killing Markus; he was sure that Simon could feel him trembling.

“Daddy, please, I need you to move.”

He reached underneath Markus and brushed his shaft with two fingers. “Already, my love?”

“You’re having way too much fun teasing me.”

Simon laughed as he slowly pulled out about halfway. Markus wasn’t expecting it when he threw himself back in, and the impact took his breath away.

Simon fell into a brisk and relentless rhythm. Markus felt every last inch of Simon’s member push against his insides, crying out as the force of it rocked his entire body. God, that payoff was even more satisfying than he’d imagined it would be. Markus had never envisioned himself allowing a man to handle him so roughly, yet there he was, resigning all of himself at once to the will of his beloved.

“Ah -- yes,  _ yes,  _ Simon! Oh, fuck, that feels so good!”

Simon grunted and panted as beads of sweat peppered his forehead. Swept up by a lust-fueled fever, his hips never missed a beat. “Keep talking, Markus; show off that pretty voice of yours.”

“I don’t know if I can; your… it’s making me so weak…” Markus felt the flames of passion burning like hell between his legs.

Simon willed himself to slow down, just enough for his partner to feel it. “Sorry, what was that?”

Markus could practically hear the smirk on Simon’s face. Fingertips did a taunting little dance over his skin. Bashfulness gave way to the strangest sort of pleasure as Simon chuckled at his whimpering. He knew what he had to do.

“Your dick makes me weak, Simon! When you fucked me like that…” Markus sighed and shivered at the thought. “God, I nearly lost my mind. I need you to do it harder;  _ please, _ take me and screw me senseless.”

Simon stopped; he hadn’t meant to. A satisfied moan escaped him before he could even think to stifle it. “Oh my God, how are you so fucking hot?” he wondered aloud as he turned Markus onto his back again. Those red, swollen lips of his were just begging to be kissed again -- slowly and tenderly, Simon could feel it -- so he bent down and gave them what they needed. Markus’s breath hitched, and tears pricked the corners of his eyes as he hugged him.

“You alright?”

“I’m sorry, I… you’re too good to me, Simon, and I don’t know what I did to deserve it.” Markus softly kissed his cheek. “I love you, I love you so much.”

“You’re perfect to me; don’t apologize for anything,” Simon whispered sweetly in reply. “I love you too, Markus.” 

Simon swore he saw roses bloom in the darker man’s eyes, and the beauty of that quiet moment sent a host of new sparks flying.

Markus wrapped his legs around Simon’s waist and propped himself up on his arms. The two locked lips, and their bodies again became one, pushing and pressing against each other without reservation. Panting grew heavier; keening and shouting grew louder. Soon there was nothing in the world but their intertwined limbs and the sheets that shifted beneath them. Hunger, pain, the chill of this depressing winter -- everything had been forgotten, for they sustained each other with their closeness alone.

It wasn’t long before Markus felt the first pangs of his arousal reaching its peak. He sat on top of Simon now, his fingers digging into the other man’s shoulders as he rode his cock with great fervor. Finally, it had gone in deep enough to hit his prostate. His trembling voice struggled to stammer out a warning.

“I’m close, too, babe.” Simon had effectively lost control of his hips, and a ton of tugging and tousling had made a mess of his hair. “So fucking close…”

The two men felt possessed -- no pace was fast enough, and no force was too strong. The mattress shook; its springs squeaked and squealed. Markus’s fingernails etched bright red marks into Simon’s skin. Simon got so lost in the rush of the moment that he hardly registered it. Markus panted heavily through gritted teeth as the heat that coursed through his veins reached a boiling point.

“Oh, God! Simon, I’m cumming!”

“Just hold on to me!”

Simon reached out and stroked Markus through his orgasm. The sound of that last visceral shout, the sight of the tension seizing his well-defined muscles -- Christ, Simon couldn’t have dreamed up such a gorgeous picture in his wildest fantasies. His heart raced as his lover’s cum covered his chest and a spot on his chin. The tremors rocked Markus’s body and left him reeling; Simon felt every contraction, and he knew it was only a matter of time before one of them pushed him off the edge.

Though he was thoroughly worn out, Markus resisted the urge to slow down. He maintained his tight grip on Simon and continued to ride him, watching with pride as pleasure contorted the blond man’s face. That pride suddenly swelled and flooded his system when he finally saw Simon’s back arch and felt a warm fluid fill his own insides.

Markus fell right into Simon’s waiting arms; he could still feel him shaking. Ever so slowly, Simon’s cock slid out of him, and Markus moaned softly as his partner kissed him all over his face. Now there was only quiet -- the slow rise and fall of their chests, the warmth of this embrace -- and Markus couldn’t fathom how his heart contained all of this unfettered bliss.

…

“Markus?”

“Yes?”

“You make me  _ so happy.”  _ Simon’s eyes shimmered like little diamonds. “I just need you to know that. It feels like… like you’ve breathed new life into me.”

“Oh my God, babe…” Markus moved in for another kiss. “The feeling is mutual; I never wanna be apart from you.”

Simon reciprocated Markus’s tighter hold. “Then you won’t. I’ll be right here, always.”

Markus shut his eyes and smiled wider still. He felt so safe there, wrapped up in Simon’s arms, and his heart was at peace. Sleep called softly to him, and he welcomed it in.

“Simon, I love you.”

“I love you too, my angel. Sweet dreams.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading, everyone! Please consider following me on Instagram (@fan_fiction_inc) for updates and other fun stuff. Have a nice day!! :D


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